From the pitch to the plant as Lucas Pilling is crowned SWDT’s higher education Student of the year

CAPTION: Lucas Pilling collecting his award at Bishop Auckland College Group’s Student of the Year Awards. Picture: Ellie Shooter

A FORMER Hartlepool United youth player who swapped professional football for a career in manufacturing has been crowned the South West Durham Training (SWDT) Higher Education Student of the Year.

Lucas Pilling, 23, from Newton Aycliffe, scooped the top award at the Bishop Auckland College Group’s Student of the Year Awards, held at Bishop Auckland Town Hall.

The talented technical manager also made history by becoming the first SWDT student to achieve a Grade 4 in his End Point Assessment (EPA) – a remarkable feat that has secured his membership in the prestigious Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

Lucas, who attended Woodham Academy as a schoolboy, spent a year as a scholar at Hartlepool United before his exit during the pandemic led him down a very different career path.

“When I was at Pools, I was playing up an age – I was 16 playing for the 18s,” Lucas said. “When the time came, I knew I would sign up, but I didn’t have the stress of GCSEs, so trying to think of what comes next was already football. I didn’t think of much else.

“I left Pools through Covid after the furlough period and not too long after the opportunity came to do some engineering through someone I had known a long time, and it has progressed from there.”

After a brief stint working in a local pub, Lucas joined PFC Holdings – now Plastic Processing Ltd (PPL) – and hasn’t looked back.

Over the last five years, he has climbed the ranks from the shop floor to group engineer, and now serves as technical manager.

“The company has funded everything,” he said. “They took me on when I didn’t know anything about engineering and had to wait for me to finish all my study.

“At Plastic Processing, we make anything from plastic – we can vacuum form, rotational mould and injection mould … my role now is to oversee new ideas.

“When someone comes in with an idea, I take that to the final part through CAD drawings and then tooling. It can be pretty much anything, we make some prototypes on a 3D printer. We have made golf signs, outdoor signs and recycled plastic.”

Lucas, who still plays semi-professional football as a defender for Northern League club Billingham Town, attended the awards ceremony with his girlfriend, Emily, and his mum, Sarah.

“Academically, it felt fantastic to win,” he said. “There was me and the two lads in my class nominated. When I started a Level 2 after school, I didn’t think engineering was me, but then I had a go and I have done alright at it!

“I did well at school and have always been quite bright, but engineering-wise, I couldn’t have told you anything.

“My coursework has always been a top standard. I was the first at SWDT to get a Grade 4 EPA ever. I have been there for five years – started off on a Level 2 doing hand tools, then did a Level 3 for two years, a BTEC in mechanical engineering and then an HNC.

“Studying at SWDT has been really good. The equipment is really good, and the help you get from the experience of the tutors is amazing as they’ve been out there in industry and always relate the concepts back to real work problems it really helps. Five years has been a long time, but over the full year, you learn a lot.”